The Journey Continues: One Door Closes While Others Open

As my “Road to Healthy” journey moves forward, each and every day I realize that I must remind myself this is a new beginning—even while I’m closing a chapter of my life.

Now, I must treat this as a whole new set of novels, so to speak. Diet, fitness and stress management must be approached each and every day with a different attitude than has been paid over the last 20+ years.

I don’t spend a minute of my time dwelling on the fact of how much easier this road could be if I had started on it earlier. I just want to focus on the road ahead of me. And in addition to the changes I attempt to implement in my diet, fitness is an even more major change in my life.

But there is another area that has been affected by my journey—my workplace.

For the past 25+ years, I have called only one place “my home away from home.” Unlike many who might have resumes that resemble short stories, my resume lists only one place of employment from the young age of 16 to age 43. But on December 31, 2011, I finalized a major decision to leave a place I loved to work and go into every day and decided to seize an opportunity for a new business opportunity and venture.

I’ve worked very hard over the last three months with new business partners to open the Hampton Seafood Company and the catering company Peter Ambrose Events in East Hampton. It’s been stressful, some days difficult, but exciting. And now that our doors are officially open, it’s been satisfying. The encouragement I have received from my wife, family and friends, and the hard work of my new team and the staff has been so important.

My new business ventures and “Road to Healthy” parallel each other and both have been influenced by the pressure I have turned up on myself. My fingerprints and ideas are very much on display at the Hampton Seafood Company and my name hangs in big letters over the door to my new catering home. My columns and Facebook page have let the public into a part of my life which for years has been very guarded and taboo to discuss. I feel this pressure applied in the right way can lead to success in business and health in my future.

Moving into the future, I hope to continue allowing folks to monitor my progress with my health and weight goals and hope to see you at my store and grilling in your backyards or favorite beaches. Come by for some awesome lunch specials, creative soups and salads, fresh-from-our-fleet-of-boats seafood, and yes, my array of “W” items that I hope can help the next class of wellness participants find delicious, tasty items that make their “Road to Healthy” less bumpy.